Multicultural Book of African holiday Kwanzaa: "Seven Spools of Thread"

Author Angela Shelf Mederaris did an excellent job with “Seven Spools of Thread” a Kwanzaa Story of seven brother who are given the important job by the father of turn the spools of thread into gold. They are also fighting for one reason or another. When their father passes away he leaves a very different will for his boys. He wants them to make their spool of thread into gold or become beggars by sun down. This story is great for children with multiple siblings. It’s also great for a classroom setting to show students how they can set their difference aside and work together.

In this story Angela Mederaris did a great job with incorporating the Nguzo Saba also known as the seven principles in of Kwanzaa. This book is for children ranging from ages 7 to 10 years old. It really allows for children from all different cultures and background to see how Kwanzaa really is.

The art in this book was done perfectly. There weren’t a lot of multiple colors which I think was fitting for this book. I think that the illustrator used lines, colors, and designs perfectly. It showed the African bold colors of gold, red, green, black and orange. Also the text features were great as well. It really gives young readers a chance take an adventure to African and experience the African holiday of Kwanzaa. 

Discussion questions:

s  What are some of your different holidays that you celebrate with your siblings?

s  Do you feel like the brothers in the book did a great job at working together?

s  Can you think of a great text feature that really caught your eye?

Class Activity:  

Have your students create a text feature with different points from the story. Have them use the following colors to decorate their flip text feature, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Black. Have them then come up with a really fun and cool name for their flip text book. After that have them share their book with their group or table.

For awesome books by Angela Shelf Medearis see the following:

s  We Eat Dinner in the Bathtub

s  Singing for Dr. King

s  We Play on a Rainy Day

s  The 100^th Day of School

s  The Biggest Snow Ball Fight

s  Snug in Mama’s Arms